Bishop worried that some omit funeral Masses

WORCESTER — Bishop Robert J. McManus is expressing concern that Central Massachusetts Roman Catholics are not scheduling funeral Masses for their dead.

This month, he sent a pastoral letter to Catholics in the Diocese of Worcester, urging them to include a Mass in funeral preparations for their beloved dead.

The sending of letter coincides with the church's traditional commemoration, in November, of the deceased.

The bishop's missive has been read from church pulpits or included in parish bulletins.

"I'm extremely concerned because of the growing practice of Catholic families in not providing their deceased with a Mass of Christian burial," said Bishop McManus in an interview with the Telegram & Gazette.

Bishop McManus said the official funeral rites of the church include three parts: the wake, the Mass, and the commitment service at graveside.

He said it's during the Mass that the family has a chance to pray for the dead, asking God to forgive the decedents' sins and to welcome the person into heaven.

"There's a presumption today that everybody gets to heaven," Bishop McManus said. "I don't think that people should think that's a given."

Bishop McManus said the diocese has not taken a formal survey of how many families are taking spiritual advantage of a funeral Mass but said the numbers are down substantially.

"All you have to do is open up to the obituary page in the morning," Bishop McManus said. "It's filled with members of Irish, Polish and other ethnic groups that have been important elements of the local church. You look at the obituary and there's no funeral Mass scheduled."

He said many of the deceased probably wanted funeral Masses scheduled for them but that the children, or others in charge of funeral arrangements, did not do so because they themselves are not practicing Catholics.

"There are a lot of people who have turned away from the church," Bishop McManus said.

He said that before the Second Vatican Council, about 80 percent of Catholics attended Mass. He said that percentage is now 25 to 30 percent.

"That's a substantial drop-off," Bishop McManus said.

He said it's important for individuals wishing for funeral Masses to let their desires be known, possibly in a will or by alerting family members.

For the deceased who do not get funeral Masses, the bishop said, he has asked their pastors to remember those individuals in memorial intentions.

Kevin Mercadante, president of Mercadante Funeral Home and Chapel, estimated that at least 30 percent of the Catholic funerals that he's been associated with, over the past 10 years, do not involve Masses.

Mr. Mercadante blamed the drop-off on the growth of secularism and the fact that newer generations of Catholics just don't go to church.